exploring blur

DVD stuck in MacBook Pro

This article was originally written in 2006, but the solution below still (in 2017) applies to Mac computers with optical drive.

Earlier this evening I inserted a blank DVD into my MacBook Pro wanting to burn some files. However, OS X never recognised the disc, nothing on the desktop, nothing in the Finder, not even in the Disk Utility. I pressed the Eject button, pressed and held F12 for a few seconds, but the disk was stuck.

I had a DVD stuck once before, even though recognised by the system, and I got it out after tilting the computer 45 degrees forward. But this time, whatever I did there was no eject mechanism sound at all, just a very quiet sound of the disk spinning up and slowing down every few seconds.

So I decided to use good old trick of holding down the mouse button while booting the computer up. Rebooted, held the trackpad button down – but nothing. Even more interesting is that the computer wouldn’t start up at all.

The only thing I hear, following the Apple sound, is the disk spinning, possibly trying to read the boot sector and then slowing down. And this gets repeated forever. The screen stays grey, no Apple logo, nothing.

OK, another try, held down Cmd-Option-P-R, then held down D and finally held down even C while booting, but exactly same result – disk spins up and slows down few times, grey screen and a high blood pressure.

I thought, the computer is trying to boot from the optical drive but is unable to read the disc hence going into the endless loop, so I used a little trick. I inserted a small piece of thin battery pack cardboard just above the disc and twisted it (the cardboard) a little so that the disk can’t spin when starting up. I turned the computer on and held down the trackpad button.

I could hear the sound of the optical drive inside, not the spinning sound but rather sound of something moving ever so slightly. I heard it only two times and the third sound was a well known one – the offending DVD came out.

The computer then happily booted the OS X. I looked up the disc very carefully and there were no faults with it at all, no bends, no scratches or cracks, just a perfect DVD.

Oh … there is ONE MORE THING! Since 2006 this page was visited about 680.000 times (as of April 2017) and counting. Say 10% of visitors had a problem with their DVD drive. That’s 68.000 computers. Each of those would have paid at least $100 to Apple service centres to get their DVD out, and in some cases much more to replace the DVD / Super drive. This means Silvermac has saved you about $6.8 Million, probably much more thank that.

However, the total for all donations to Silvermac is $236. That’sin eleven years.

So once your disk pops out show your appreciation and make your donation here. A cup of coffee would be just fine. You can use either your PayPal account or your credit card and it’s much easier that getting that DVD out.

A regular audio Cd got stuck in my brand new MacBook, and none of the other tricks did any good. Then i used a business card which was given to me at the apple store when i was told i had to make an apointment, and it worked! great advise!

Thanks for your work-a-round. Realy helpfull. It works. Today I wound to install Bootcamp on my one day old MBP 1,83. So I need to burn the driver-cd for the windows stuff. Also, put an new CD-R into the slot-in-drive … thats was it. Nothing happend. Also …. looking on Apples Discussion site, where I found a URL to your blog.

Do you knwo, why my system profiler don´t know anything about a superdrive in my MBP?

Got the same problem with a DVDRW in my macbook’s superdrive. I insered a card (size of a credit card) in the drive, booting while holding the trackpad button. The dvd was stopped, but it wouldn’t get out. Then I moved the card to the left side of the superdrive and the DVD was ejected 😀

Just read most of the posts here, while a CD was stuck in my MBP. I left the computer turned on. When I got back after about 10 minutes the system had restarted and when I logged in to my account a window popped up saying that the disc needs to be ejected.
So, to make a long story short: just show some patience and let your mac handle the problem. No need to use business cards… 😉

ME TOO… worked great. i jumped through all the hoops- called tech support, went to the repair shop where they wanted to keep it for 3 days…. your trick worked GREAT!! i used a very thin card- just a bit thicker than paper, and folded in two. you need just enough to keep the disk from spinning it seems.

I LOVE U MAN!!!! U SAVED MY DAY.!!! I had worked for over 6 hours on a project that i was ready to burn and guess what!!! The dvd got stuck, and its my second macbook and i was like ohh no i dont wanna go trough this, MY GOOD. I tried to restart several times and nothing happend, untill i redd your article. THANK U VERY MUCH!!! IF I COULD I GAVE U A BIG HUG, YOU ARE MY HERO MAN. THANKS A ALOT…

OMG! You saved my life,THANK U SOOOOOOOO MUCH! I didn’t look at it but the cd that got stuck was broken but put together with some glue! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT IT WORKED! THANK U SOOOOOO MUCH TRIED EVERYTHING NOTHING WORKED EXCEPT UR ADVICE! U R DEFINITELY A GENIUS!

Please add my name to the list of grateful responders. My stuck disk was among the first I put into (for Word program) a new MacBook Pro. ‘File’ didn’t light up ‘eject’ and none of the Mac advice worked. I’d tried rebooting with pad down, rebooting and leaving for 15 mins. etc., to no avail.

Your technique took four attempts with carboard to work, starting gingerly with a folded business card. What eventually worked was thicker cardboard, like yours, to the left and with some pressure, as you suggest. Even though the first trials failed, I was encouraged by at last hearing sounds of its trying to eject. Many thanks for your help. (I wonder if they’ll have a recall notice soon.)

YES>…….it worked…i had to fuck around with the business card u just gotta put ur ear to the disc drive and wait to it sounds like its stopped spinning and then wiggle the card a bit and u hear it pushing out and quickly pull the paper out,,,,FANTABULOUS!!!

WOW,
here’s another one:
thanks so very much man!
I had a video DVD, the system was starting
all right, the DVD was mounted on the desktop
and it would start the DVD player over and over
again. tried all the suggested stuff earlier
mentioned, but your trick was the only one that worked!

Absolutely amazing. I’ve searched all over Apple Discussions for a solution – never thought this would work and I wasn’t comfortable about sticking cardbaord in a disc drive, but this really works… thank you….

& other things i can’t remember anymore to no avail…now this trick here got the CD out! Thank you so much! Such problems exist at least since the early titaniums…i wish Apple would start to recognize them

Ha my brand new 1 month old Mac Pro just did this to me, I tried every single trick I found on the web and then I found this website and I figure why not, put the battery case inside the superdrive and it worked! Great Tip! Thanks a whole bunch.

It seems I’m the only one who can’t do this trick… How do you do it people? 🙂 I got a dvd stuck in my macbook.
I can’t make the cd stop (I’m not even sure if it’s spinning, the noise is very silent – like “tss…tss…tss”)

My Macbook refuses to give me back this DVD. I’ve tried everything mentioned online, but the DVD always ejects a little bit and then goes back in. There were even a couple times when I had a hold of it and it sucked it back out of the things I was gripping it with, back into the slot drive. So I’m wondering how far I’m supposed to have the cardboard battery case wedged in there. I’ve tried it a dozen different ways. Also, I’m not sure about the insides of a slot drive, but is it possible that it’s getting caught on something else (like the BOTTOM edge instead of the top edge)?
Thanks for any ideas.

Was getting on fine with my dual boot 10.4.8/WinXP macbook when I thought what I was really missing was a dual boot WinXP/Linux on the PC. Downloaded the ISOs of SUSE Linux 10.1 on the macbook and was in the process of buring them to CD when I thought I was burning a duplicate, so stopped the burn.

OMFG!

CD was inaccessable in OS X and I couldn’t eject it!!! Restart brought nothing but CD activity and SFA else. Leaving the macbook for 10-15 mins brought the OS(s) up but the CD was still inaccessable and unejectable (sure that’s not a word, but if this keech keeps up with the macbooks it may enter the language in a few years).

So, armed with a couple of glasses of good red wine and a business card (not to mention the large pair of nappies) I set to.

IT WORKED, IT EFFIN (a wee town in Fife not a sweary word, honest :)) WORKED!

Dear Friends,
My Macbook Pro is now free of its unwanted guest (the DVD). I had to bring it to a service center, and they had to extract it for me. I so wish I could tell you how they did it, but they wouldn’t let me watch as they worked on it in the back. I don’t think they opened it up.
One bit of info to report as to why the business card/battery packaging trick didn’t work for me is this: The DVD, once removed, was warped in a way that made it slightly convex as it lied flat on a table. This slight dome shape was the main issue. I had even gripped the DVD with a small tool, hit eject, and pulled. But the drive was fast at taking the DVD back, and the disk would always get pulled from my light grip.
As to how the DVD became warped, I have one or two plausible explanations. For one, the DVD was about 2/3 the thickness of a standard DVD. Here in China, you get all shapes and sizes. So the DVD was potentially fine when I inserted it, but after heating up inside the oven that is my notebook computer, it warped. I think it may have already been warped because I tried ejecting in within the first 10 minutes of use and it wouldn’t come out.
By the way, the disk still played to perfection right up until it was removed.
(That’s a long post, but I was hoping my experience might help some other poor fellow who doesn’t know why his computer wants to eat his DVD. Too often we read these sites and never contribute.)

I had a failed burn just before a SMC firmware update. I didn’t think much of the failed burn (my first. and I canceled it manually) so when I hit Restart on the SMC firmware my next thing wasa a stuck grey screen!

In trying to eject the disc to run Firmware restore CD, I found this. It worked like a charm!!! weeeeeeeeeeee!

wanted to start ripping my CDs. #3 being a perfectly normal audio CD got stuck.
business card did not the trick. When the Macbook Pro (W8618) with MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 wanted to eject I smacked the laptop on it’s back a bit while holding the it upside and it spit the disc out.

One of the usefull “hardware” tricks. I did it with my credit card! My problem was a Firmware Restore CD stucked in the iMac Intel drive. But the trick did work only after unmounting the memories (!?).
By the way, my screen is blank for ever, the Restore CD did not work. Any ideas …?

it’s great that we all got our discs out but what the hell is going on? the guy at the mac store told me that some discs are too think for the new drives. fantastic, how the hell am i supposed to tell the different between a thick and a thin disc. they all look thin to me.

Help! The trick is not working for me. DVD still stuck there! when I stick the card in, it stops the DVD, the drive makes the motion to spit out the DVD, but it doesn’t come out. Questions: Should I take the card out as it’s making that noise? Also, as I stick the card in, is the DVD under or over the card? I need to know that so I know where to push the card. I tried to open the Mac itself, but that didn’t work either.

ANY KIND AND CARING PEOPLE OUT THERE? Have a disc stuck in my Powerbook G4 and though have tried rebooting, the disc doesn’t show on my desktop, and I can’t seem to get the driver to do anything at all. Of course it’s happened when I’m in the middle of a deadline and am freaking out which doesn’t help. If someone out there can, may a thousand nubile nympths kiss your feet until their lips are calussed.

It didn’t work for me iether for the first (10) time(s). So I take control from Apple’s “CD controling software :-)” taking out the memories sticks and powering up without them. So, there was no “inteligent” control above the DVD. Then I stick the credit card in and gentle pressed the DVD spinning in the drive. It works like a charm. And it still works now because I have to take every CD out before another try to restore my firmware.
Anybody knows how can I do that (Firm restore)? Is there a magic CD another from Apple’s website. Which does not work. For me definitely.
Do I have to take out the the hard drive?

beosro, ABSOLUTELY appreciate your comments – I just don’t understand them! (Will still send the nymphs though.) The drive won’t spin on reboot either; I can’t get it to do ANYTHING – though it did the first 2 times before I did anything but panic. Certainly I can’t even locate the disk – doesn’t show up on the desktop, and can’t do a find.
Am going mental. Have spent a bazillion hours on it so far, and nothing has changed except my blood pressure!

Oh my God you just saved my life! I have to present with my MacBook Pro all day tomorrow to a bunch of high schoolers. The card trick worked after me just about throwing myself through a window. Many, many thanks!

Dude you’re awesome! I have an Intel iMac 20″. I used a credit card, pushed against the edge of the CD in the drive so it was unable to spin. I powered it on while holding down the mouse button. The trick is you have to wait a good 20-40 seconds while holding the mouse button and holding the CD still. Like you said, the computer made 3 distinct attempts to read the disc and immediately following the third attempt it made it’s familiar “about to eject” noise so I backed away from the computer and the disc came out. I’m so glad I don’t have to check it in for repair. I just hope that all the power cycles I put it through while trying to troubleshoot this problem didn’t cause any damage.

Thanks! Tried a business card first – that didn’t work – then I used the cardboard from the bottom of a note-pad (About the thickness of 3 biz cards). Jammed it wayyy in on the left side, wiggled it just a smidge, fired up the mac with the trackpad held down…waited… heard that blessed sound, and out came the CD (BTW – it was Ben Folds – who almost lost a fan!)

How bizarre that the MacBook Pro doesn’t have a simple built-in way of ejecting a stuck disc. I miss the old paper-clip trick.

HELP! I JUST PURCHASED THIS PIECE OF CRAP. I PUT MY FIRST CD IN. IT POWERED UP, AND THE PROGRAM DID SHOW UP. THEN I TRIED TO EJECT IT, AND IT DID NOTHING. I TRIED ALL OF THAT CRAP THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO EJECT THE DISC, AND NOTHING! I PUT THE BUSINESS CARD INSIDE, AND NOTHING!!!

My wife told me we should write and say that you are a “genius” but it seems like we would have to get in line… I went through the exact same plight you described word-for-word, except our computer was the result of our 1 year-olds scratched Baby Einstein DVD being inserted. Nice. The only twist on your solution was that I had no battery pack and opted for my Barlaycard instead. First time I didn’t engage the disc correctly. Second time I did – and BINGO! You ARE a genius. Cheers from London

I’ve got a Macbook whose hard drive or logic board has just fried itself (these things run WAY too hot). I couldn’t get a CD out of the drive no matter what I tried, but your trick (business card) worked the first time.

The exzact same thing happened to me! i put a dvd in and it wouldnt come out I was scared out of my mind then i found your response…I got up to get cardboard and like a miracle It popped out right as i was coming back with the cardboard…wierd!

I have got the CD/DVD stuck sometimes in my Macbook Pro but I have booted up in Open firmware on the mac by holding down:
cmd-opt-O-F
Then I get to the prompt were I write eject cd and press enter … WORKS EVERYTIME you don’t have to put something into the drive…

I Seemed to have the same problem a little while ago with my macbook. I put in a DVD and it stuck in the Dvd drive, But my case was a little different. Instead of having problems with the drive, my hard drive pulled a Funk on me and lost my system files. Seemed as if my drive was doing the exact same thing that yours was. My solution was a little different though. I reset the PRAM, took out my battery, held the power button down for a few seconds and left the computer(with no Power source attached) for at least 2 hours. Then put the battery in and turned on the computer. After the computer pulled an amazing Jesus on me, it started up but during the time it would just freeze for a few seconds and then go again. Well I ejected the Disk and shut down my computer. Chucked in the OSX install disk went to Disk utility and fixed the drive. Beats sending my computer into apple and losing my DVD. This has only been an extreme case though. If you have troubles like he did take out your battery and leave it for a while it seems to forget most of your problems…. I hope some of this made sense…….

Ah. As an update to my November 15 note – I ended up unscrewing the drive and found that the top of it was a little squished (from leaning a little too heavily near the pad?) so it was gently bent back to the way it shoulda been, and so far (fingers crossed!) it’s workin’ foiyne again….

Thanks for the post I’m getting ready to try and eject my disc stuck in the drive. Has anyone found a fix for this problem? I just don’t want to have my computer distroying my discs and having to stick stuff in there all the time…..Anyone???

THIS METHOD IS THE BOSS…… IT ACTUALLY WORKED. A CD WAS STUCK IN MY DRIVE. I TRIED EVERYTHING UNTIL A FRIEND OF MINE SHOWED ME THE SITE WITH THIS METHOD. I TRIED IT AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED, EVEN NOW I CANT BELIEVE IT. 🙂

God bless you and all of your offspring. This same thing happened to me and I was flipping out b/c I have a 30-page paper in the computer that I needed to submit asap, but your method worked on the first try.

God Bless you! This trick worked a wonder on my sister’s MacBook… she called me panicking about having inserted one of those small dvds in her laptop and it not coming out (D’oh!). It was obviously stuck! After scolding her for inserting a small dvd in a MacBook in the first place, I walked her through your advice over the phone. Lo and behold, it worked! Even on one of the small ones! Yipee!!!
You’ve made our day! Thanks again!

Wow. That saved me from going to the Apple store, and I have a huge deadline by Tuesday – no time to waste! Thanks SO MUCH for the great advice. I had tried so many things already, but had been hesitant to stick anything in the CD drive… but the battery pack cardboard worked wonders!!!!! Thank you.

Had the same problem and after about 15 attempts it worked with my EU-drivers license combined with my mensa-card. But now my MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 makes strange noises. I’ll go to the apple store tomorrow.

That’s such a bad product policy, if everybody seems to have this problem, they should make a recall. But I know one thing for sure: they won’t. Now, I was very happy with my first apple laptop since august 06, but since this is about the seventh cd/dvd witch whas stuck I’m starting to feel a little disappointed slowly. They always come out (sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes after 3 days. But hey, I need a product which is more reliable than that.

I know that it’s annoying and takes up time, but maybe we all should confront the next apple store with this and tell them to exchange the drive or something. I’ll post, what came out of my store visit, that I’ll do tomorrow.

I had a music cd stuck in my mac mini and I used your sugestion but I ended up using dollar bills to keep it from spinning up. I had to use a total of 12 one dollar bills to prevent it from spinning up.

The computer would boot into OSX but then would just say that I need to restart and I wasn’t able to do anything.

So to solve the problem, I stuck my $12 into the Super Drive and once OSX loaded, I was able to just eject the cd by dragging it over to the trash can.

I sent my Macbook to repair service to have heatsink, keyboard (a keystroke popped out) and the superdrive, that was constantly choking DVDs and guess what? Even with the replacement, the superdrive still keep choking my DVDs! I tried with a few DVD-R discs, a Region 4 DVD (I live in South America), a Region 2 DVD and the region 2 played fine but it wouldn’t eject not even the other dvds (except for 1 had a lot of files).

i’ve tried this trick with cardboard, credit cards, multiple credit cards and nothing has happened! what am i doing wrong? i tried jamming it into the left side of the slot as well. i’ve rebooted and rebooted. pressed down the keypad. tried absolutely everything to no avail. any suggestions? sometimes it will make really strange hissing sort of noises (not the traditional dut-du-dut-du noise of a struggling macbook trying to eject). this sucks. what do i do?

Hi Guys,
this has happened to me twice. Think I would learn. Same application, different CD.
Tried everything. First time was in for three weeks and by chance connected as external drive on another MAC and out it came. This time ,no such luck. Two months. I tried everything mentioned here, no go. Then read, somebody used there EU driver’s licence. Tried mine, Massachusetts, and lo and behold, out it came. Cd is very scratched from all the attempts. Will I trust to put in another CD ????

Awesome fix. It also works with a Blockbuster Movie Membership Card 😉 It will work when the EFI update has been interrupted and you can’t put the Apple restore CD in the drive because there is already a disk in the drive.

I had the same problem and found the pressing and holding the eject button (top right) ejected the disk when dragging the disk to the trash / booting up with the trackpad button held down didn’t manage to eject the disk.

I had a couple of DVDs stuck. Problem for me appears to be with slightly dished discs from nasty DVD cases that put dishing pressure on the discs. Couldn’t get the trick to work – had to disassemble the MacBook Pro twice. So beware discs that aren’t flat.

OH MY GOD !!!! You actually saved me…. IM NOT KIDDIN your a freakin genius… haha i was soo scared cuz tommorow i have to drive 12 hours with my friends and just before i read this i thought we were not gonna watch any movies OMG YOUR MY HERO!!! hahah

Another HINT !!! I had post here some time ago, but My DVD stuck again, I FIND NEW WAY TO REMOVE DVD. Method above work for me one time, but now i try another one. See steps:
1) Remove your battery
2)Hold down botton to try force eject
3) Place any card to hold and after three times, dvd try eject, but if not dvd pull out
4) When dvd try read 3 times, will try force eject, take off energy power cord at eject and BEFORE DVD is loaded again. You need take off energy at a moment dvd try eject, to set dvd free to drag with any hard paper, card ou battery pack. I did it and remove jusk shake macbook pro up and down.
Can u underestand my hint ?
Good luck

I stupidly put a mini-dvd in and had a terrible feeling just as I did it. Then after looking at another discussion, I put in another DVD to try to get it out and they both got stuck! I tried the business card, thicker cardboard and credit card about 20 times, decided to try again the next day. After shaking my laptop, trying the credit card, other cardboard and thinking of making a trip to the Genius bar, I tried again without using cardboard or anything and they both came out! Don’t give up, I was beginning to think I was going to burn out my laptop.

I got an 80 mm disc stuck in there, and my MBP is only 2 days old!!! I was so pissed and frustrated that I had to call Apple for service after 2 days. But after your hint, I found an old samsonite info booklet with thick paper. After shaking it around in there a few times and pulling it in and out, it worked great! You’re the man!

any suggestions if the business card i used to try and get it out ripped….? now, not only is there a stuck dvd, but half of a business card stuck in my mom’s macbook. any suggestions before i have to wake her up and tell her?

What a genius solution! After an hour of endless spinning up and down…up and down.. I went online and found your tip. I took out the battery to power down my Macbook sometimes not so Pro, and used a thin plastic business card inserted as you said above the disc. Twisting slightly , hit the “On” button and within a few seconds…Voila!, out popped the disc. Thankyou a thousand times. The drive is completely O.K. and the world is a shiny place once again!
Thanks!

Thank you so much, I was thinking (and somewhat attempting though lazily) to do this with a credit card. the solution is so simple and reading all the success stories made me go for it, you really saved me from taking it apart (again!, had just fixed the video cable on my own)

I love the internet. It’s such a wonderful place to share problems, and more importantly, solutions. Thanks, the card worked like a champ. The disk is out of my wife’s Black MacBook and now I can go to bed. Bless you for posting this. Nothing else worked.

My boss inserted the actual CD (photos for our latest ad campaign) into my computer and FREAKED out when it wouldnt load and got even more upset when it wouldnt eject (10 minutes before a presentation with a client)! I have the company credit card to get the computer fixed… Won’t they be interested to know that the AMEX came in handy without having to charge anything! Thanks again!

Thanks, this really helped me! Worked like a charm! My only problem is, now my computer isn’t reading ANY disk I put in. I’ve only tried it with DVDs so far but that’s really all I care about. It goes in, spins around for a while, and never shows up on the desktop. When I try to load up the dvd player, it says there’s no disk inserted.

Is my disk drive broken? Is there something I can doto fix it? Thanks for your time.

The initial post prompted me to use a substitute for the battery pack cardboard. I used a firm playing card, placing it above the CD; twisting it slightly with the computer running. I pressed on the eject key once, then removed the card; pressing once again on the eject button. The CD ejected without any problem, much to my relief!

Will this work for a mini-DVD stuck in the MacBook Pro? I have someone who wants me to help them get a stuck mini-DVD out. If not, how hard is it, what do you have to do, to remove the CD drive from the MacBook Pro. I tried to find a service guide online and couldn’t. Most regular notebook you just have to remove 1 screw, then you can pull the drive out. Please email me at connajj@bellsouth.net

You Rock!! I though it was all over when my mac had a stuck cd. in the drive…
got a business card folded twice slide in, make sure the business card holds the cd so it wont spin turn it on, waited about 5-7 seconds then nothing happen then pull my business card out thinking it was no good then walla!!! my cd came out and my macbook booted up…

wooooow, this is awesome. my dvd got stuck, i started ur article with 45 degree angle of my macbookpro, meanwhile i tried to put the dvd out couple of times by eject button, i tried cmd-opt-p-r options[i dont know wht that means but i tried that too as suggested], by the time i finish this article and reading comments, my mac automatically tried it and let my dvd out. plain perfect clean stupid dvd. thanks for info though, ll always remember. and definitely saved a trip to apple store.

Hey, I just had this exact problem on a brand new Macbook Pro out of the box. Just have to say that the post was brilliant an apropos.
My contribution for furture readers is that the trick also works with cardboard from a Microsoft Intellimouse. Now’d who would ever think they could ever play nice together??
-Jon

I had my new macbook not 30 minutes from the courier. I started copying files to DVD from my PC to put on my macbook (email, bookmarks, mp3’s, videos etc).

After installing bootcamp and its drivers, I put in the disk labelled “windows stuff” – another burnt DVD-R. Windows wouldn’t recognise it, and wouldn’t eject it. So with a call to technical support after reaching the grey screen when rebooting, we couldn’t get the DVD-R to eject. I said to the guy “hang on let me try something”. I put my mastercard in on top of the disk and low and behold it came out, just like another slotload drive I have on a system here.

He laughed and said he’d advise of that trick in future should he come across the same problem, and cannot get the customers drive to eject.

Funny thing was, I thought it was caused by the 10.4.10 update I had done prior to finishing off the bootcamp install.

I was soo fusterated i took out all the screws from th ebottom in attemps to open the disk holder so i can rip that CD out from there.

I read this and seriously first i tried a credit card, drivers license, macys gift card, and finally with the gift card stopping the CD and pressing eject button while the comp was restarting it popped out.

thanks so damn much. it took awhile for me but you just gotta fidgit and dotn forget to hold down the eject button while its restarting and to make sure the card keeps that damn cd still. best of luck too all you guys

Had a CD stuck in my macbook pro super drive and the computer was trying to spit it out about every 20 secs. Made an awful noise. Tried the card but no go. Read on the site about tipping the computer and tapping the underside of the drive when it was trying to spit out the disc and thank goodness it popped out with that little frustration releasing tap. Thanks Guys!

had the same problem with my macbook pro core duo. grey screen + dvd won’t eject while making noises.

i followed chris’ advice and waited 5-10 minutes without interfering and then the mac booted by itself !!
the dvd was still stuck but i managed to eject it through the terminal by typing “drutil tray eject” (it was slow to react but ejected it after 2-5 minutes).

i suspect that my problem was related to Toast Titanium. the dvd that got stuck was made with Toast and when trying to eject it, it automatically opened Toast. weird…

not my idea of spending 3-4 hours on a saterday night – but thanks a million for this site + the advice from everyone else!

This is great – the third time this happened I tryed using a creditcard and got the DVD out. The other times I had this anoynig incident I held the comp upsidedown and tapped on while ejecting – this time however, after 3 hrs of trying different ways your tip solved the problem – thanks a looooooot…

It seems my MacBook Pro don´t like thicker DVD´s since thats when I get the problem, perhaps something to consider – One of my favourite movies “Fight Club” is no a no-go on my MBP – sad but true – stucks every time!

Is there a special trick to boot in Open Firmware btw? I tried alt-command-o-f but it just boots as usual !

I used a business card, this was the final resort that got my disk out. Great tip!

Some notes:

Insert the card before the computer boots up, if you insert the card when the disk is already spinning at thousands of rpm, it’ll just get shredded.

For all you attempting this, note it takes a while. Perhaps 30 seconds…
Be patient. Put your ear next to the drive and you’ll hear the sounds more clearly. The 3rd sound is the cue to remove the card as the disk will be ejected very shortly.

My old powerbook has the same RECURRING problem. I’ve already replaced the drive once but it just seems to whimsically see/read my DVD drive and eject or not eject depending on it’s mood. Ugghhh. Thanks for the tip it worked for me too but I really want to know why this keeps happening! Any thoughts?

*** If you are in a situation where your MacBook will not boot and you do not want to stick anything in the drive.. Pop out the battery and back in again. Switch on and it will boot to OS X as normal. Your DVD will keep spinning for about 15 minutes but will eventually pop out on its own. My windows formatted DVD that OSX couldnt read after a reboot from vista popped out while reading this blog!!! Patience is they key!!

I stuck a mini photo dvd that came with a HP ink cartridge and it wouldn’t even startup. I knew that I was in trouble! After putting “macpro dvd is stuck” in google’s search bar I found your site. I place the small advertisement that came with the dvd into the slot and “fiddled” around for a few seconds and WALA!, a portion of the mini dvd came out and I was able to grab a corner and pull it out.

I had the same problem and so i gooled the problem and i cam to your page. I gotta say you’re smart to do that, but i got mine to work differently… i tilted it backwards… and held it there for about ten seconds… and hahaha the apple finally appeared!!!

My macBook Pro had a similar problem. When I tried to eject the DVD it would clunk several times but never came out and then the disk would mount all over again.

I tried the cardboard – no luck. The advice about stopping the disk appeared to have no effect at all. Finally (before taking the laptop apart I tried a credit card. It didn’t work until this:
I put in the credit card in the centre of the slot until it hit the small bracket. I pushed down on the outside of the card to angle the card up over the top of the bracket then pushed the card in a very small amount so it was over the bracket but not as far as the disk. Then I applied pressure upwards on the outside of the card which caused downward pressure of the other end of the card on the bracket.

When I hit eject the bracket moves down and the disk goes over the top of the bracket and the card. Some small success – the disk very briefly pokes out of the slot before being whisked in again. After several tries I managed to grab the edge of the disk as it came out. A fight with the mechanism ensued with the mechanism winning until I grabbed a small pair of long-nosed pliers around disk and card and – finally – got it out!!! Whew!

I did the same with a small cd which was stuck, and now the player doesnt read any CD at all, any clue anyone? I m really shit at it, and I live in china now, which means nobody speakin english and no real apple store. (last time i broke my screen, they replaced it with the crapiest on earth) thanks

I can’t get the DVD OUT! I have tried all of the above. It is still trying to get out. I am concerned that my disk drive eject function is going to have a hernia from all its mechanical effort to remove the disk. Any ideas that don’t involve poking and prodding the drive?

thank you thank you thank you. i tried your trick with a cd booklet instead of cardboard. out it came! whoo hoo! I’m concerned that this will keep happening and it’s frustrating you can’t take out the whole drive but ah well, thanks slivermac. i’m bookmarking you after a very happy one-click-google save! 🙂

Mine got stuck in MacBook, too. Tried rebooting a few times with the alt key down, mouse button down and it just gave me a gray screen with noise from the drive. While I was reading this article on my desktop PC, I left my laptop turned on. When I was done with this blog, I went back to my laptop to force it to spit the DVD out but presto, I found it has booted into my default bootcamp by then. I simply logged into XP, launched the explorer and ejected the DVD that my MacBook happily ate.

Just another big thank you from someone in exactly the same situation! I was on the verge of taking my Macbook to the repair shop and you saved me the trouble! It took me about fifteen minutes of shifting around with the back of an old cut up cereal box, but I got results! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Thanks so much! We had a DVD stuck in a Mac Mini with two external HDs stacked on top of the Mini. It’s my belief that the DVD reader got too hot (or at least the DVD itself got too hot). Anyway, your suggestion worked! It should be noted (for those folks this trick didn’t work for) that you have to be patient. I started the process with a biz card but it isn’t strong enough to hold the drive down. Went to my medical insurance card but was still having trouble. Basically, I (GENTLY!) slid the card back and forth, tipping it a little on the left side (the card) and pressing down. It took 3-4 times before I actually heard the blessed sound of a disk being ejected. WHEW! And I could care less if I damaged the DVD. It was cheaper than taking it in for repairs. Thanks again!

WOW!!!!! And the praise goes on and on! I have had a CD stuck in my Powerbook G4 for 2 days now!!! I kept at it…tried EVERYTHING! and eventually stumbled upon this.I used a piece of cardboard and just kept running it along the top…rebooted it,-basically did what was suggested.And it FINALLY EJECTED! So yes! This also worked for my powerbook g4 as well if anyone is wondering.WHEW!! Thanks again!! I (like many others) was ready to go to the mac store (i made my appt for this weekend) and now i don’t have to worry about it. THANK YOU THANK YOU

I have a mini dvd in the drive and I tried the method, now all I hear wehn trying to eject is an obnoxious and dangerlously sounding ticking sound as it tries to eject. I can no longer stick anything in the drive as the disk (I pressume) or some other mechanism is blocking the insertion. Any ideas?!

I had stuck in a mini-dvd that came with my HP cartridges. I had tried tweezing it out but nothing worked. I then tried a business card after reading people’s experience here. It only worked when I tilted the laptop away from me before inserting the card (trying to put it below the DVD rather than above it), then I tilted it towards me and pulled it out. The mini-dvd popped out resting squarely on the business card.
Please do not insert the HP DVDs that come with the cartridge on a MacBook Pro.

I am pleased to announce that the above method worked for me. I would like to add that you will need to insert the card at one end of the drive slot as the middle has a metal guard which rises when a disc is present. In my case the disk did manage to spin, although very slowly, after two or three attempts at spinning up the drive made its loud noise to signal it was ejecting the disc 🙂

HELP HELP HELP! My cd got stuck in my MacBook Pro and I had to use trick to remove the Disk but now when disks are inserted to the MacBook Pro it makes a noise like the Disk inside is hitting on the wall or something, If I even touch the Laptop the noise becomes worse like grinding it to a DEAD stop, I can hear the CD slow down when I touch the side of the laptop and return to speed when I let go, Almost sounds like im hitting the Brakes… But Im not sure if there is any posible solution, CAN anyone HELP ME!? Plz post here I will Check back in a couple of days, THANKS EVERYONE!

I finally got my stuck dvd out by jamming in another dvd disc. I put it in almost all the way,Then I took out the extra disc and rebooted while holding down note pad key.Works every time but it still a really a pain in the ass. It should be covered by warranty!,,,,good luck!

HELP HELP HELP! My cd got stuck in my MacBook Pro and I had to use trick to remove the Disk but now when disks are inserted to the MacBook Pro it makes a noise like the Disk inside is hitting on the wall or something, If I even touch the Laptop the noise becomes worse like grinding it to a DEAD stop, I can hear the CD slow down when I touch the side of the laptop and return to speed when I let go, Almost sounds like im hitting the Brakes… But Im not sure if there is any posible solution, CAN anyone HELP ME!? Plz post here I will Check back in a couple of days, THANKS EVERYONE!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I found this page, after having tried all the usual crap, and honestly didn’t think it would work. But, I was getting desperate, so I tried it, and IT WORKED! I was so happy, I’d been getting really worried. The laptop belongs to my school, and I’m not supposed to do non-school-related things on here, such as burning CDs. I inserted the CD, and it didn’t show up, even when I searched for it. I tried restarting the computer a few times, then looked up “CD stuck in laptop” on google. I tried a bunch of stuff, restarting while holding the mouse button, etc. Nothing. Then I tried it and it worked! My only question: Is it safe to insert the CD again? As far as I know, there was no reason for the problem. My laptop’s actually not a MacBook, but an iBook G4, and it’s about two years old, maybe a little less. Any thoughts?wslwing@yahoo.com

I’ve got the same problem, but as yet not managed to get the disk out. I went to the Apple Store and the j*rk off said they had NEVER had a reported problem of this nature (yeah sure) and they’d charge me to remove it (bought about 55 weeks ago).

My MacBookPro gets extemely hot, could the CD’s be warping slightly which means they won’t eject?

EXCELLENT!! This worked on my wifes ibook after she put a ‘small’ dvd into the slot. You saved my life because she had asked me if the small dvd’s would work on her ibook – I said they should do – not knowing the drive on an ibook has a slot rather than a tray. Thanks Again – I went from dead man walking to hero in the time it took me to find your article and follow the instrictions – phew!!

I too had a mini dvd stuck in my Macbook Pro. I inserted a Post-it note sticky side down and applied a little pressure on the Macbook itself over the disk compartment. The Post-it note seemed to adhere to the disk and I was able to slowly pull it out with no damage.

I’ve been working on a stuck dvd from over a month, until i just stumbled upon your site. I used a folded business card instead and it worked on the first try, and it’s ridiculous how happy I got over such a small accomplishment!

I have (obviously stupidly!!!) inserted a cleaning cd with (*&^%!!!) sweepers into my (elderly) G4 – and of course, it’s stuck. If there IS a god, someone brilliant may have some suggestions… (other than not being so mental as to put one in in the first place – why, oh why do these cds not have a ‘unsuitable for Macs’ warning?) May a thousand nymphs kiss the feet of anyone who can help until their lips are callused…

What an excellent idea ! I have a MacBook that I could not get to accept a cd … some catch just inside and to the right was preventing a cd from being inserted at all…. I just used a folded sheet of paper and swished it around inside… heard the mechanism spin and release, and now it takes CD’s …. A Very Cool Fix !

Thank you SO MUCH!
oh my gosh, it’s happened to me before and I freaked out but it always came out. This time, i was trying to burn DVD from my iTunes and when i tried to take it out, it either tried to play the disk or wouldn’t come out! I was so freaked! Then i stuck a thin piece of plastic in there, well my dad did, and it came right out! I was so nervous, and it worked! Thank you SO MUCH!!

Thank you!!!!!! I had a stuck movie DVD in my drive–eject button didn’t work, the DVD icon didn’t show up on my desktop or in Finder–and I was so worried that it’d cost me like $300 to get it out (my macbook pro is out of warranty). I used a credit card, left side, and it popped right out after reboot/pressed trackpad. But the DVD looks in perfect shape so I hope that my superdrive is not damaged and was the cause of this irritation. Thanks for sharing your tip!!

A friend had a DVD-R stuck inside his new shiny Intel iMac and none of the usual suggestions worked. He was waiting for his newly acquired Applecare to kick in so didn’t want to void warranty by using the card method more than once. He used terminal command drutil list, then drutil tray eject 1. Did this (by pasting) over and over again in quick succession and it popped out after about the seventh go. Worth a mention.

OH MY GOD ! I have a brand new macbook (BLACK) and I installeed windows xp ona 20 gig partition of the 200g HDD. I bought a game and a generic game controller pad to run on the windows side. It came with a cut down size (Small) cd rom with drivers for the game controller. I inserted the small CDR into the Macboocs drive and (of course) it got stuck. I called the apple repair stire (NEXTBYTE) thew wanted $189 to look at it straight away and remove it OR I could leave it for 5 days and pay (MIN) half hour labour $66. I used your tip and even thought this was a small disc, I used a business card and just jiggled it aroud and I was able to remove the disk after a bit of fiddling. As this was a small disck it was not spinning and was not engaged into the actual drive BUT IT STILL WORKED ! You have saved me a lot of money and time and for that I thank you man !

These instructions are a little more specific and worked for me. THANK GOODNESS.

PROBLEM:
In my case, I put (what I didn’t realize was) a warped concave cd with a sticker label into my macbook pro. Over and over the following happened: 1. Disk spins for about 50 secs. 2. Disk spins again as computer tries to mount the disk. 3. Computer tries to eject disk. For about 15 minutes my computer was trying to eject, I could hear the gears spinning as others described above. (OMFG)

I came to Kim’s detailed instructions below and they worked! I figured they were worthy of reposting.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND THANK YOU TO THE CREATOR OF THIS SITE. (I’m making a donation right now)

“Kim said: Sun, 21 October 2007 at 22:59

My macBook Pro had a similar problem. When I tried to eject the DVD it would clunk several times but never came out and then the disk would mount all over again.

I tried the cardboard – no luck. The advice about stopping the disk appeared to have no effect at all. Finally (before taking the laptop apart I tried a credit card. It didn’t work until this:
I put in the credit card in the centre of the slot until it hit the small bracket. I pushed down on the outside of the card to angle the card up over the top of the bracket then pushed the card in a very small amount so it was over the bracket but not as far as the disk. Then I applied pressure upwards on the outside of the card which caused downward pressure of the other end of the card on the bracket.

When I hit eject the bracket moves down and the disk goes over the top of the bracket and the card. Some small success – the disk very briefly pokes out of the slot before being whisked in again. After several tries I managed to grab the edge of the disk as it came out. A fight with the mechanism ensued with the mechanism winning until I grabbed a small pair of long-nosed pliers around disk and card and – finally – got it out!!! Whew!”

Couldn’t get the card thing to work. Here is a different method that I haven’t read before anywhere on the Net:

Power off the Macbook Pro. Then power on with the eject button down. At the moment that the computer tries to eject the disk, hit the power button again and power off. If you do it right, the dvd player will be stuck in a state where the gate is open, and it is trying to eject the disk. At this point, a little jiggle got the disk to pop out.

I had a stuck DVD. I turned off, put square think sheet in the DVD slot, turned on and it gave a loud beep on start up. It then gave the familiar exit DVD disc from drive. Thanks for the tip. I didn’t press any other buttons just did the card trick.

I just had a stuck disk problem, a newly burned CD ISO from another machine.

I tried and tried to eject it. It wouldn’t show up on the desktop, nor in Disk Utility, though the Superdrive was showing up in System Profiler. I called the retailer and prepped a shipment to repair as there’s only a week of warranty left.

Then… I noticed a CD under my monitor.

I had not put the CD in the drive in the first place. I got distracted by a phonecall after I took it out of the original machine. I am an idiot. A relieved idiot. 🙂

I have been trying to get a stuck DVD out of my mac book for an embarrassingly long time. Faced with the fact that my apple care had recently expired I avoided the issue by just using my desktop. But since I can’t actually use it on a plane I was going to be shelling out money to get it fixed. But your cure worked on the first shot! Thank You! Now do you do taxes?

tried tilting the computer and the credit card trick multiple times over a very frustrating and terrifying hour to no avail. The credit card pressing down on the disc would allow the computer to read the disc, although it would stop frequently. I decided to download the disc so my efforts wouldn’t be a total loss! Then I remembered that you can’t eject a disc during download. I held my breath and hoped that at the end of the download I could eject the disc, and I could! The disc was warped; in the future I will check all discs for warp before inserting into the drive. Hope this helps someone else. I’ve loaded another disc and it is playing normally.

Genius! It worked!
Thanks, I was gonna have to paid a few quid for that. But decided to go and get first the newest tool: the magic battery pack cardboard! I don’t know if times have gone very modern or if is just true that we don’t need specialised tools anymore.

While watching a video the machine went “pop” and wouldn’t start back up or send out
the disk. I used a firewire cable to hook it to my other macbook and turned on the problem
computer holding down the T key. Was able to drag the disk to the trash from the remote
computer and out it popped. That problem solved.

Now the silver computer still won’t boot up. Can these thing overheat when watching a movie?

Wow. Life saver. I owe you my life. I was seconds away from total macbook freak out destruction. Worked like a charm. I actually was dumb enough to have gotten the disk out the first time, clean it off and put it back in…then it got stuck again! I was picturing the guys at the apple store laughing at me when I told them what I had done. You saved me face and money.

Thought I had the same problem, was all set with my business card, when I realized mine was simpler. I was running a virtual machine in the background and it and the real machine were fighting for control of the dvd. Rebooting twice did the trick (the first killed the vm, but left the disk in a funny state, the second worked). It’s ridiculous that they didn’t provide a hardware override.
Anyway, thanks for the advice – I was all ready to go for it when I realized I didn’t need to.

Thanks for hosting this Blog. Obviously this appears to be a problem so there is no doubt i’ll need to know this information at some point. But Mike above me noted a virtual machine and that was my problem. I uses my spaces for a VM and totally forgot i had it running. my cd ejected right out when i tried eject from the ‘my computer’ window. Thanks everyone!

I have tried doing all the steps to get my Cd out, I put a dvd a freebie from a TG tips about some monkey, but anyway the Cd wont come out. The drive makes all the sounds like its going to eject the disk but actually never does anything more then that.

About the CD warping: it’s the heat from the computer that’s doing it! I tried ripping several CDs, most of which only had 1-2 songs on them. These were fine, but the longer ones eventually got hung up during the rip. I then had all the eject problems mentioned above, and both of the CD culprits were concave when they came out. I know they weren’t going in, because I checked them on a flat surface. These were also the only ones which had an adhesive paper face label, so perhaps it was some combination of heat and adhesive weirdness that caused the concave warping….

I had no disc icon and the drive continuously went through all the stages of ejecting the disc, but didnt eject. I later discoverd the paper cover from the box of discs had stuck to the underside of the disc.Thus the disc wouldnt eject.

I finally inserted a credit card and another thin plastic card above and below the disc, squeezed tight and pulled.
Out she came.
Now I can insert a disc, but no disc icon is present on
the screen. After about 20 seconds the disc ejects.
What can I do? This was happening prior to the disc not ejecting.

Wow, that actually worked, had a dvd stuck in there and the little piece of cardboard from a battery pack was perfect, it was a borrowed dvd to so i was running out of excuses of why I hadn’t returned it to its owner yet.

I have the same problem like redsquah. I forced the disk eject with a hotel roomcard that is a little bit thinner than credit card.
Much thanks for your advice, you save me a tour for a non-official hungarian apple store 🙂

You have GOT to be sh***ing me!!!!!!!!!!
I tried everything for two days, and then got
onto this site and it worked!!!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!
I went through credit cards, business cards and finally used
the back of a catalogue.
You rock!!!!!!!

Thanks for all of the advice, I just wanted to say that the sticky note trick worked for me. I tried the business card, the credit card, the cardboard and even another CD but it was the sticky note that card the mini dvd out for me. Plus it was less invasive. Thanks again!

Tried everything on this website to no avail. Finally picked up my macbook pro tilted it at a 45 degree angle, pressed the eject key and shook my computer (gently) and it popped out. Grrrrr Took over 2 hours to do that!

Ok, Everyone has provided you with Kudo’s for your cool trick. You deserve more than that ! I’m leaving to work on the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and I’ve just finished my signal lines for the new Olympic Venue and I wanted to back it all up to a CD and I encountered this common wierd phenomenon. I tried all the “techno” tricks with no results, but after I decided to try this trick it worked and you saved me. I am boarding a plane in 20 hours and you are a hero and a champion, best of the best, you belong in the games ! These are the kinds of solutions that make my industry incredible, you rock.

This works on iMacs as well! I just slotted in the cardboard and gently nudged it up while rebooting and, whoosh!, that dang CD came right out. I had just imported a bunch of CDs into my iTunes library and this one stuck–John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman/impiulse. Go figure.

‘pon stuck discs- here’s what happened to me not long after I got my first i-pod (I had been a cassette/minidisc walkman diehard until a year ago… so sue me).

I was loading CD after CD into the MBP, a week-9 machine which has otherwise been problem-free, & had noticed the discs were getting warmer with each successive rip. thought nothing much of it…. until I happened to put in a disc with an adhesive label on it- a mockup of one of my band’s albums. it ripped fine, but would not come out, because the heat had raised a bubble on the label, wedging it in the drive. I tried the trick but the disc was stuck, & so I had to open the MBP & raise the lid on the superdrive. I am a bit more circumspect with home-made discs now!

i am going through this right now even though apple repaired the drive last week.
they kept my imac that i bought in feb 2007 for several days. my cd got stuck. i tried everything. i cant take it back because its a copy of a software stuck. so i have to get this out myself. all authorized sellers want to keep it several days and charge me even though i am under warranty. i dont want strangers going through my files. you know if i left it with you, you would check my pictures videos and music.

i hate this issue. they need to change there mechanism. this has been a problem of theirs for years. macs are no better than a pc.

Great Tip, but because you bent the battery packaging, the battery company will not honor your packaging warranty. 😉 J/K OBV. Great tip!!!

I also tilted mine 45 degrees to stop it from spinning which worked, and you can also put very slight pressure on the top of the palm rest, although this COULD damage the disk and maybe the drive if you push too hard so be careful on this one, takes VERY little pressure..

You’re a genius-! A plastic card and your instructions worked beautifully–now I’ll score points with daughter. I also think that I’ll suggest that she NOT try to insert another disk. My assumption is that there will be a repeat performance–disk won’t work and will get stuck 🙁 Time for another disk drive..???

Unfortunately this does not work at all if keys and mouse pad are not responding. Anyway, swipe some (wide) label tape from your label printer get a tongue depressor (popsicle stick) and 2 gift cards (or the like) and do following:
1. Position a card on table top until forward edge is even with table’s edge
2. Stick about a 1/2″ of the label’s sticky on card’s forward edge and fold stick back
3. With 1/2″ of label mated to card1 evenly insert card2 between card1 and label
4. Sticky side down insert (“firmly”) into drive @ slight upward angle an inch or so
5. Slide card2 out & depressor in – depress/rub sticky to top of disc with depressor
6. Slide depressor out now firmly pull card label and disc OUT! = )

Thanks so much. After 2 hours of a lot of frustration I finally came across this solution. The most common suggestion for fixing a stuck DVD in a mac mini was the open firmware solution (and this will not work on an intel mac mini). The mini would not even boot up properly. I got a strange sound on the first attempt with this method, but suspect I wasn’t holding the card firmly enough. I put the card in about 1/2 way and to the left side of the drive, while holding mouse key down for about 10 seconds and then heard that delightful eject sound.

My husband asked ME to put one of those tiny little “instructional DVD” things in that have the edges cut off.
It got lost inside my Macbook Pro. I used your idea and put a skinny post card into the slot until I heard the sound of eject but it still wasn’t there, so I held the laptop up in the air with the slot facing down and shook. And there it was peeping out. Thank you!

awesome dude!
it works perfectly! I used a GNC member card inserted it in the left side of the drive, pushed it down with a twist, rebooted and pressed trackpad button, and BAM! comes out the dvd and eventually OS started.

I have the opposite problem – I can’t get a DVD to go all the way in the drive and stay there. When it’s about 7/8 of the way inserted, there’s a little push back as if something is in there? I’ve shaken and dont’ hear anything and nothing comes out. What can I do? (MacBook Pro not under warranty)

Wow, thanks a lot! I had the gray screen of death…and the install disc 1 stuck in the DVD drive…. I tried replacing the hard drive directly with a bootable os x on it to no avail. The optical drive kept trying to boot. Finally got the disk out thanks 2 your tip, but still can’t get it to boot up. The contents of the original HD were recovered via USB to another mac running leopard. However, the HD in question still won’t boot from another mac (perhaps it’s the godforsaken windows partition?). The perils of being an IT is that you have to deal with windows… I’m thinking it’s the logic board… Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

thank you! after a day of fretting and worry and calls all around, i found your tip. i tried it and waited and after about 4 trys, it spit the damn thing out. it seems to work fine now, just burned a new DVD. both apple and Creative Computers in santa monica were useless. what’s worse, apple said my warranty had expired three days before this happenned and they wouldn’t pay for it, even i though i ordered the computer online and they shipped it from china (with the old OS) and i didn’t pick it up until after thanksgiving last year! unbelievable.

you just saved my ass! I had a PowerMac OSX install CD stuck in my Intel company SERVER. I was just trying to run Disk Utility from the CD and grabbed the wrong one. it was causing a kernel panic, nothing else was working and I was freaking out.

Had an audio CD (home burned by a friend) that got stuck, it didn’t show up in iTunes, Finder, etc. etc. I tried the eject button, tried the “drutil eject” command. The latter would spin down the disc, but it wouldn’t come out.

I started to think about reboot, cardboard, etc. so I closed down my apps. After I had exited iTunes (not simply close it, but really command-Q !!) I tried “drutil eject” once more and suddenly the CD came out.

Won’t say this will solve the problem in other cases, but it is definitely something to try first.

thank you so so much! i was struggling for over an hour with this same problem, and all of the other websites mentioned that eventually they had to go to the store and some of them even had to get their macbook replaced. i was starting to panic, and then I tried your trick. it worked like a charm. thank you again for not only being smart enough for figuring it out, but also posting it online to help me out (and all us others) as well.

really grateful for this tip. Like many others – spent about 90 mins trying to resolve similar problem today, all sorts of failed attempts involving various contortions and key board combinations. Growing panic until I found your blog. Most sceptical about your advice at first (me of little faith). BUT – The disk is out! The mac is back! There will be Christmas in our house!

Wow… so many people who just want to get the discs out of their drives!

My disc was stuck but my problem was just like Kim’s above (Sun, 21 October 2007 at 22:59)

My MacBook Pro would not eject the CD– it would whirrr and clunk several times but the disk would not come out but instead would mount all over again.

Repeated tries failed, although a couple of times just a tiny bit of the disc would protrude from the drive, but quickly get sucked back in again.

Holding the trackpad button down during reboot did not work either… whirrr clunk clunk — but the disc was still stuck.

For the me the problem was not that the computer was trying to boot from the disc. So the OS would start as usual.

It seemed to me this was a mechanical problem. Some people here mentioned warped discs and that seemed like it might be possible. Then, when I looked closely at the disc drive slot at eye level, I noticed something interesting… the drive slot is very slightly warped. Running my fingertips allong the top surface of the computer, I discovered that there is a slight dip or depression just to the right of the touch pad, above the disc slot.

I didn’t use the cardboard trick, because a spinning disc was not my problem. What I did do, was use a thin, wide piece of metal (actually it’s a little knife for spreading cream cheese on crackers… so it’s not sharp at all). I very gently inserted the metal blade about 1/4 inch into the drive slot just below the depression in the case. I pried the depression up… and believe me I used the absolute minimum of pressure required… and then I tried to eject the disk again. It still didn’t work and remounted itself again. So I tried one more time… prying up with the blade with the slightest bit more pressure this time. I hit the eject button a second time and the disc slipped out just like it should!

I put the disc back in and ejected it again three or four times. No problems.

So here is my theory of why my particular version of the problem happened in the first place.

The disc slot sits right under where my right wrist is resting on the computer. I think it’s quite likely that at some point with out realizing it I put some extra pressure on this area with the heel of my palm, creating this depression when then prevented the disc from ejecting. Or, it is also possible that the depression was there from the beginning and I never noticed it. Bu if it was there all along it was not preventing the disc from ejecting until today. So again I suspect that the pressure of my hand on the computer warped it further until it became a problem.

I am, as a rule, quite careful and have never set anything heavy on the computer and certainly have never dropped anything on it. I don’t slam it shut or stomp on it in frustration (although I might have come close once or twice!). So this leads me to believe that the warp in the case is the result of normal use, and that, in my humble opinion, makes this a design flaw.

Normally I would not try this sort of thing.. I would take the computer back and show them what I discovered and insist that they repair or replace it. But, where I live, there is very few places to get a Mac serviced. And my experiences with the local service place have been very frustrating. It[s a long story…. my current Mac is actually a replacement for my previous one which they tried to fix but gave up after about a month of repeated visits and replacement parts. Suffice to say that I don’t want to see them anymore than they want to see me! So, in my desperation not to head out on this stormy, Canadian winter day, I resorted to minor Mac surgery with a cream cheese knife! I do not recommend this method.. but it did work.

Thanks for the post. A lot of people in a lot of places owe you a beer. 😉

Just another addition to my comment above….
I noticed in the photo of your MacBook that the disc drive slot is different from mine.
How to describe this…
On mine, the slot is positioned higher on the front edge.
In your photo it looks like there is about 1/4 of an inch between the plastic trim and the top pf the slot opening. Well on mine there is NO space between the trim and the opening. In fact, that gray plastic trim drops down and completely encircles the entire slot. I wish I could post a photo so you could see what I mean. Anyway, they obviously changed the slot position on the later MacBook Models for some reason. Interesting.

THANK YOU!! My 4 year old stuck one of those clear fake CDs ( that comes on top of a spindle of blank CDS) in my drive, on top of my other DVD that was already in there. For some reason, the only thing that worked for me was Arthur’s tip, above, where I took the battery out first.

Awesome! I put a movie in my MacBook Pro and it would not read it. When I turned my system off and back on I got the blank grey screen and a rumbling DVD drive. I paniced and saw $’s flying out the window to get it fixed! Then I googled for a solution and found yours. I did exactly as you suggested and it did exactly as you stated. It rumbled twice then spit out the DVD!!!!!

Thank you, you just saved my life. I put a rewritable CD inside my wife’s computer and it got stuck. I then tried your technique with a business card with no results until I realize I wasn’t doing it properly. I then proceeded to insert a thicker card in the left side of the drive and made sure that the disk wouldn’t spin. This time it worked like a charm!

The only thing though is that my wife is afraid of putting the same CD in.

Just like everyone else who googled and found your solution to a stuck DVD, I, too, had a blank DVD stuck in my MacBookPro. I tried all the stuff you did, then finally googled. Your solution was first on the list and worked like a charm! Thank you for figuring this out.

I had to finagle a bit and try it about 10 times. I inserted a doubled over postcard and inserted a credit card between the postcard folds. I don’t understand what went on, but the most difficult part was explaining to my wife what we were doing when I didn’t have a clue myself.

Any engineers that could explain what was going on inside the drive while we were doing all this?

One thing that I thought was important is that there appears to be a “latch” in the middle of the drive on the 24″ Intel iMac ( on the left or “front” side”). Started the card at the bottom of the slot and sliding it in deep and then up to the middle seemed to depress the latch.

Pause between reboots as the drive must stop spinning.

Good luck. I am now using our external drive (with a tray) that I use on the Windows machines.

I wrestled with it and tried the business card (it kept tearing up my card!) after I finally gave up and set the laptop on the table it just popped out halfway and started to go back in. I jumped matrix style and caught it as it was going back in and yanked it out. Thanks for the tip!

I have tried every method I could find to remove disk from my blackbook. I found the post-it note to be the only successful method. It works so well for me I have no fear of putting a disk into my macbook(which I don’t do often)
Thank you for your post!

Another method for removing discs from a MACBook Pro: Boot the Pro in Target mode. Connect system via Firewire to another booted system. Note on the desktop (finder) the appearance of the Pro’s HD and DVD drive. Select the disc to eject and there it comes.

aah. i stuck a CD into the drive and it started to make weird noises so I immediately ejected. The CD looked fine so I stuck it back in… Worst idea ever! I rebooted and tried to eject, but my machine couldn’t spit it out. I kept pressing the eject button hoping it would get it out… to no avail. So I stumbled on this site and stuck my drivers license in there to get it out. I battled for 15 minutes and it kept attempting to eject. I gave up, but my computer kept running the eject cycle. It finally got it out by itself. The disc was warped… Lesson learned. I’m sending a comment to Apple about this problem. Surprisingly common!

I attempted this at work on an iBook G4 with a stuck DVD. I was using a really thin piece of cardboard though, so I folded it in 2 and stuck the open end in the slot while powered down. It actually worked like a pair of tweezers and I pulled the disc out that way. Thanks for the tip! I never would have tried this without it.

I have tried different things to get my empty dvd out from my iMac. all day long. I am now sick and tired of this. For the last 2h I have tried this tutorial but I cant get it to work. Culd some kind person please do a videotutorial a share it on youtube?
Please, I really need as much help I can get right now!

check it out…i was just about to attempt this card trick (pun intended) when magically my macbook finally recognized the blank dvd and gave me an options box…my obvious choice was eject and boom. I am so glad i didn’t have to put any blunt and foreign object into my OPTICAL drive. But I will remember this for next time. I try to treat my computer like a person, Don’t leave it in the cold, the rain, don’t over work it and don’t stick things inside of it that don’t belong especially in it’s Optical unit, oh and don’t hit it.

THANK YOU!!! I had the same problem and took it to the Genius Bar at my local Apple Store. They told me it was my hard drive! Then the IT people at school took a look and told me it was either my logic board or graphic card and to get a new computer!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I accidentally put my camera chip in the cd slot of my IMAC, and tried to get it out with a twist tie, but it only sunk in further until I could not even see it. i was so panicked, but after reading some of the hints here, I took a small ticket stub, about the size of a credit card, but not as stiff, and put it in until I figured it was behind where the chip was and just eased it forward until I could see the edge of the chip and grasped it with my fingernails and Hallelujah, it worked and my computer was OK. I will never do that again, I had a couple thousand photos on the chip, but they were all OK. It’s so nice to read about others having the same problems, it makes me feel less stupid.

OMG…… If anybody reading this see’s the author of this post in person please buy him a drink…. Dude deserves it for being a genius…. This trick worked great…. Just hold the cardboard in there for a bit and it works…. As soon that DVD came out I threw it against the wall so that it will never contaminate my Mac again…..:)

THANK YOU! Amazing, it actually worked. Rebooted with a twisted credit card holding it down, turned on power while continuously pressing keypad mouse. Heard about four attempted optical spin sounds, then it ejected it. Great advice.

someone put 2 dvds in my computer. I used a piece of cardboard and stuck it in as far as it would go while the computer was tilted on it’s side so I could see in the slot. I bent it up and down as if to grab whatever was in there and then I could see the edge of a dvd, I slid the dvd out with my fingertip while leaving the cardboard in and saw there was another dvd under it too and I slid that one out too. It took us an hour of trying to figure out this problem and reading these boards. Very frustrating but thanks to lots of prayer we got the dvds out!! I’d recommend this method and lot of prayer.

Sorry to anyone else having these problems. Good luck getting this fixed!!

For me it was a netflix dvd (how to train your dragon) which got stuck in my macbook pro. I tried everything but the DVD just wouldn’t come out. It would attempt to come out (based on the sound being emitted by the drive) but it would just get sucked back in and the movie would start again.

Stopping the spinning using a credit card would also result in the same thing, i.e. it would attempt to spit it out but something would prevent it from coming out and it would get sucked back in.

Finally what worked for me was that I attached looped up scotch tape (since I didn’t have a double sided tape) to the credit card, slid it into the slot and pressed the eject key (one to the right of the F12 key). Lo and behold the DVD got stuck to the tape and I pulled out the credit card along with the DVD attached to it.

Obviously, not a recommended solution but when all else fails this method should work. Just make sure that the scotch tape is attached to the credit card firmly through the length of the credit card so that you can hold onto one end of the tape or else you will lose the tape inside the optical drive and then you will have no choice than to open up the macbook.

After a very long day of trying to get this bloody DVD out of my machine, I finally found your site, and did what you suggested. All I can say is thank you so much. Ironically, for the trick I used the front cover of my “everything Mac” manual that came with my Mac when I brought it. Funnily enough, your trick wasn’t listed in the index. They should rewrite it and include it. Thanks again.

It took me a while to get it.. You have to hold the card in the slot, stop the DVD from spinning.. It will make funny noises and such, BUT you have to hold it in there for almost a minute while your pushing the eject button.. So the key is to wait.. And it works!

This worked perfectly – disc was stuck for over 6 months – had tried all methods including doubled sided tape etc. etc… Thank you very much !!! I’m in the Bahamas where apple support is extremely limited – so was very happy to find this solution without having to take it in.

Thanks a million for the tip. That was a life saving if I could say. Because of the piece of paper I used was thick when ejecting sound came the cd could not come out. So I pulled the paper out as soon as the ejecting sound started.

Great!!! used your trick on my old apple powerpc and it worked. However, I kept holding the eject button on startup instead of the command options. Nevertheless, my thanks to you for ending my frustration. You saved me so much time and aggravation.

upside down with a business card at reboot worked after I tried many different things to get a dvd out. But the computer will still not start up…is that a fried hard drive, or should I (take the chance and) insert Snow Leopard in again?

IT WORKS On my mac, a doubled over piece of caardboard, hold down magic mouse pad for about a minute, listen for the drive sound to stop trying to read the drive, wait for it, EJECT SOUND!!!!!!!
GET THE DISC OUT.
Brilliant.

TIP: take the time to listen and wait for the drive sounds to change, You have to stop the disc from turinig, then listen to the drive doing its read check, read, check, read check… drive give up eject war dance.

This tip worked like a charm. I didn’t use a business card, however. I used a credit card and applied pressure in a downward motion then turned on the mac, waited for the start-up screen to appear and the disc ejected. Great, great tip!

I had a playable (DVD movie) stuck in the drive. Ok I tried most of the above and couldn’t get it to work. After 3 re-boots and just leaving the machine quiet for 5 mins (with the disk spinning and stopping every few seconds) and eventually a message came up ‘disk inserted -click here to read or do nothing’. Clicked ok and a menu (didn’t recognise it sorry!) came up asking if I wanted to write on the DVD – I just chose eject and it did. Problem solved.

I tried this once and then went back to retry three or four other things. I finally came back to give your suggestion a second go and it worked in less than 10 seconds. Thanks to you I can return disk two of The Essential Dolly Parton collection back to my local library. (Yeah, I could think of 12 other CDs that I’d rather have stuck in there…)

Thank you so much – on holiday in the States and it may have been the putting in of my South African disc while here (although it plays fine at home on the same computer) that did it but after scouring the forums and trying everything else this tip was the only one that works.

I was in a place without wifi (the horror) so had taken a DVD along which just kept starting up every single time I tried to eject. Tried bloody everything but nothing worked until I stumbled over this. The business card trick worked.